


I hate U

by BloodthirstyMerc



Series: The unspoken 'Pat' word series [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Enemies to Lovers, Gore, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Supernatural Creatures, Vampire!Lance, Vampires, Voltron, Werewolf!Keith, Werewolves, klance, vld, voltron legendary defender - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 19:31:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16919022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodthirstyMerc/pseuds/BloodthirstyMerc
Summary: “Lance.” He tenses up slightly at the sound of the new voice, only to roll his eyes and pull back before he actually gets to sink his teeth into his new prey. He screws up his face and looks over his shoulder.“Well, well, dogs off his chain I see.” Lance spits as he glares at his new company. Keith’s shoulders are drawn back, his stance squared off.“Let him go,” Keith growls. Lance sighs and looks back to the trembling body in his hands.{November reward}





	I hate U

Lance kept his head down as he walked through the streets. It was past midnight already and the cloud cover was doing nothing to keep the full moon from shining down on the world. The puddles of water from the day glowed with it, making the city seem even brighter than it was, even in the darkest of alleys and backstreets. His fingers twitched in his pockets and his jaw ached from how hard he was clenching it. It had been a while since he’d properly fed on something that was actually living instead of sucking passible nutrients from a damn bag. He was feeling particularly… cruel tonight.

His heightened senses kept him aware of what was going on around him. He could smell everyone who was in a town block radius of him, could listen out for elevated heart rates and sense the fear on anyone close enough. It was fear that he was looking out for, hoping maybe he’d run into someone he wouldn’t feel too guilty about draining. Sometimes it was hard to resist the smell of someone, but he usually managed to keep his bloodlust at bay around people.

It doesn’t take him long before he picks up the faint sound of someone’s heart rate hammering away violently in their chest. He lifts his head, turning to face the direction of the source, pausing completely as he listens and takes in a deep whiff of the night air. The smell of wet ground fills his senses, quickly chased by the potent stench of fear. He grins and follows after the scent, listening harder for the sound of the heartbeat. When he gets close enough, he can hear the struggle, knows that some poor souls got themselves caught up in a bad situation.

He moves fast, not too fast to be suspicious, despite the lack of people out at this time, but fast enough that he arrives on the scene in time before things get messy. Anger coils in his gut at the sight of two men harassing a woman in a business suit. She’s already thrown her bag to them, but they’re persisting in trying to get something else from her. Lance doesn’t hesitate to march up behind the two. He grabs hold of one of their shoulders and throws them back away from her without a word.

“What the fuck?” The guy calls out as he stumbles back, catching the other guys attention. Lance all too easily grabs hold of him as well and shoves him away from the women. He stands between them, keeping his eyes on the two men as he collects up the contents that are spilled from the woman’s discarded bag before he hands it back to her.

“Go.” He mumbles in a low voice and she instantly turns and starts running down the street. Lance hears her muttering a low sting of ‘thank God’ and ‘thank you’ as she takes off. Lance can’t help but smirk. The two men are staring at him like they intend to kill him, which is just as amusing. He works his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and tilts his head back a little. He can hear their pulses beating under their skin and he basically smells their frustration radiating from their bodies.

“Look, I’m not really feeling too nice tonight, but if you turn away now, things won’t get too bad for you.” Lance offers. He knows they’re not going to just leave without a fight.

The first guy charges at him, pulling his fist back and making a swing for Lance’s face. He easily sidesteps the attack and turns to grab hold of the back of his clothing and throw him further into the alleyway they’re stood at. The second guy tries to come up behind him and Lance throws his arm back, elbowing him in the face before he can land a hit.

The strong smell of the guy's blood fills Lance’s senses when he breaks the guy's nose under impact. He falls back, crying out in pain as he grabs hold of his face. Lance picks him up by the collar of his clothing and drags him into the alley with him. The first guy is standing up again, fists held up like he’s ready for a fight but he reeks of fear, letting Lance know he’d wished he’d turned around.

“So, tell me, was it worth it?” Lance asks as he throws the second guy to the ground, rolling his shoulders back as he stands over his whimpering form. The first guy's eyes widen in shock when Lance grins wider, his protruding fangs visible in the glow of the moonlight. The guy stumbles backwards, but there’s nowhere for him to go. Lance steps over the other guy and stalks forward. “If I was cruel, maybe I’d leave you to turn, but I can only imagine the shit you’d do it you were immortal.”

“S-stay back.” The guy shouts as he pulls a knife from his belt, holding it out in front of him like he’s trying to be threatening. Lance laughs.

“Oh, I’m s-so scared of your w-wittle knife.” Lance taunts. The guy runs forward, swinging the knife as Lance. He steps back, avoiding the full blow but allowing the guy to get a slight nick across his cheek. Lance smirks and the guy watches in horror as the cut rapidly starts healing itself. “Cute.”

The guy drops the knife like now it was pointless and tries to make a run for it like he could actually outrun a vampire. Lance lets him get past, only to lunge forward and knock him down so he’s sprawled out on the ground beside his friend. He scrambles at the ground, trying to find purchase so he can pull himself up but finds none. Lance grabs his ankle and drags him back before he throws him to the end of the alley again. He picks up the second guy who’s still moping about his broken nose and drags him to the back of the alley too.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be in pain for too long, just long enough to regret the choices you’ve made in life.” Lance purrs as he leans over the first guy, pinning him back against the wall of the alley. His mouth falls open and a scream almost escapes, but Lance is quick to cover his mouth with his hand. He leans in, his lips brushing the shell of the guy's ear.

“Shh,” He whispers, the sound of the guys pulse loud enough that it sounds like it could be his own if he had one. He hums softly and tilts his head into the guy's neck, licking a stripe over the thick vein in his throat. He feels the pulse of blood pumping under his tongue and moans softly. It’s been too long since he gave in to this side of himself.

Without thinking further on it, he pulls the guys head to the side and turns his own into his exposed neck, closing his mouth over his flesh. He bites down, fangs piercing into the guy's skin and blood fills his mouth. The guy screams into his palm and Lance moans at the taste. It was always so much sweeter coming from the real deal. Warming blood bags and sucking it out like some damn Capri Sun really wasn’t satisfying. Hell even biting into the bag and drinking it like that didn’t fulfil the want to sink his teeth into flesh.

The guy starts to struggle against Lance’s hold, kicking his leg out in hopes that maybe if he lands a decent hit, Lance will stop. He just pushes harder into the guy and sucks more fervently on the open wound. It starts to get messy, which is another aspect Lance loves about feeding from a person. The mess is intoxicating and makes him feel like he’s in pure ecstasy. Lance opens his eyes and glances down to the second guy. He’s staring back up at him, face covered in blood and eyes wide in fear. And that’s definitely the smell of fresh urine. Lance rolls his eyes and pulls back from the first guy's neck, his body feeling heavier in Lance's arms as the loss of blood starts to make him feel woozy.

“If you’re thinking of running, lemme know now.” Lance hums, licking his lips as he pushes the guy harder against the wall to keep most of his weight from him. The guy on the ground shivers, Lance sees it. He also sees the movement of the guy going to push himself from the ground. Lance rolls his eyes and without a second of thought slices the first guy's throat open, along the puncture wounds in his throat and drops his body to the ground. It all happens within seconds and he’s grabbing hold of the second guy before he’s even taken a step to run.

“No! Let me go please!” He cries out and Lance growls, turning him around and pinning him up against the wall where he’d just had the first guy pinned. He drops his eyes and makes a low noise, suddenly going pale as he squeezes his eyes closed and turns his head away. “Y-you killed him.”

“Yeah, I did, because assholes like you deserve this.” Lance hisses before he leans into the guy's throat, fangs scraping over his skin before he goes to bite down.

“Lance.” He tenses up slightly at the sound of the new voice, only to roll his eyes and pull back before he actually gets to sink his teeth into his new prey. He screws up his face and looks over his shoulder.

“Well, well, dogs off his chain I see.” Lance spits as he glares at his new company. Keith’s shoulders are drawn back, his stance squared off.

“Let him go,” Keith growls. Lance sighs and looks back to the trembling body in his hands.

“And why should I do that?”

“Because it doesn’t matter what they’ve done, this is wrong.” Keith starts moving toward him, hands balled into tight fists at his sides. Lance clicks his tongue.

“He’s seen too much already, so if you just go on your way-”

“No,” Keith snarls. Lance sighs and looks the guy over.

“What a waste.” Lance tuts as he reaches up with both hands, taking hold of the guy's neck and head before he twists. There’s the unmistakable crack, whatever the guy was going to say getting cut off as Lance snaps his neck and drops his body to the ground. Lance turns around, coming face to face with a snarling werewolf. He holds out his hand in a shrug like action.

“He’d already watched me drain douche number one, I couldn’t let him live.”

“Their fates weren’t yours to decide.” Keith continues to snarl. Lance tucks his hands back into his front pockets and snorts.

“Why don’t you go howl at the moon and stay out of my business, nark.” Lance hisses. Keith growls, and its very beast-like, less human and Lance snorts.

“Unlike you, I can control myself and resist my urges,” Keith growls. Lance shrugs and steps over the corpses at his feet, walking up to the were to stand directly in front of him. Keith screws up his nose and ignores the desire to step away from him.

“I haven’t fed off a human in months, so, suck it wolfie. And besides, those assholes deserved it. There are two less rapists on the streets, you’re fucking welcome.” Lance shoves past Keith and begins to walk off, pulling his hood back over his head. He doesn’t need to pull more attention to himself now that he’s soaked in blood.

“What you’re doing is wrong,” Keith yells back at him. Lance rolls his eyes and keeps walking because he has no intention in getting involved in a fight now that he’d fed.

“There are worse vampires out there and you know that. Just try and stop me, Keith, I dare you.” Lance calls back. When Keith doesn’t say anything else and Lance doesn’t hear him following, he takes it as his cue for the end of the conversation and leaves.

\- - -

It’s only a few days later that Lance is being told he needs to be present for a discussion with the Elders. He instantly wants to try and come up with some stupid reason as for why he can’t, but even he’s not  _ that _ insane. He ends up face to face with Keith again that night, which really doesn’t make him feel any better about the situation.

The Elders of both vampire and werewolf kind meet up for these stupid meetings when problems arise concerning their races. It’s usually the case of who attacked who in whose territory. And since Lance is one of the last descendant of the Elder in the area, he has to be present for a lot of the discussions. His siblings left the territory years ago, leaving him the only person to show. Keith, being the son of the Elder of the wolves means he’s always there too. Though Keith doesn’t mind being around, as far as Lance can tell.

These meetups happen in the basement of an old church at the edge of the city. Lance’s family owns it, it’s been in his bloodlines ownership since the first of his family came to this city before it was even that. Centuries have passed and civilisation expanded and evolved, but the old cave underneath the religious faction has always been present. It’s ironic, Lance thinks, that they’re sat under a false house of God, one that doesn’t pose the correct properties to make it dangerous to them. Because it’s owned and run by vampires, so anyone who comes here never ends up really being touched by God. It’s somewhat amusing.

The church is in the heart of the vampire territory, but it is an area where wolves and vamps come to the mutual agreement that it’s no one’s territory. Though, weres are only allowed to show up when a meeting has been called since they’d be trespassing on the vampire's territory. Lance shows up late because he honestly couldn’t care for politics right now, but he knows he’s got to at least show up since almost all the vampires in the region believe that he will be the one to fill the Elder’s place when the time comes. He won’t. His sister will return from wherever she is to take his place, she swore an oath and so Lance doesn’t have to worry about it too much. Unless she’s killed, then the responsibility will fall on him.

“Never on time.” The werewolf Elder growls as Lance makes his entrance. He grins, flashing his fangs as he strolls up to his seat. Keith’s sat with his back straight, gaze forward like a damn  _ dog _ .

“Sorry, I’m not good with keeping track of time. Y’know since I’ve never had to worry about it before.” Lance hums, flashing his charming smile around the table of vampires and werewolves. Besides the two Elder’s, Keith and himself, there’s two other vamps and two weres. Bodyguards of sorts. 

“Sit down Lance.” The Elder sighs and, despite himself, Lance does without argument. “The reason this meeting was called was due to your behaviour the other night concerning two men you fed from.”

Lance frowns and narrows down his eyes at Keith. 

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t say anything,” Keith growls. 

Lance holds back from snapping back at him about how he’s obviously lying.

“Actually, I only fed on one of the guys. Ask Keith, he was there when I killed the second one,” Lance hisses, refusing to look away from glaring daggers at Keith. The were rolls his eyes again but doesn’t react otherwise.

“We were not informed of Keith’s presence at the incident.”

“Incident? I was feeding. Since when is that a crime?” Lance hisses, finally tearing his gaze away from Keith to stare heatedly at the Elders.

“You said you only fed off one of the men, what did you do to him once you were done?” The Elder questions instead of answering him.

“I slit his throat, cover up any tracks that may be a vampire would have bitten into him. What am I being accused of right now? I’ve done nothing wrong. I was on neutral territory, so I didn’t break any laws.”

“You did leave their bodies in an alley,” Keith notes, his gaze flicking around to all the other faces at the table. Lance shrugs.

“So what? We usually do, the police file them as murders and can never find the killers, so what? How is this different from any other time I’ve done this?” Lance’s frustration was growing in his body, amounting to dangerous levels. Keith looks up at him through the corner of his eye.

“The one you fed off, he turned.” He mumbles. Lance’s shoulders go tense.

“I didn’t turn him. I’m not a fucking idiot, I didn’t give him any venom.” Lance hisses.

“A few were’s found him just before sunrise and he was brought to us. He’s in the facility, they’re rehabilitating him as we speak. But what you did was against the laws. You were not given permission to sire a human.” The Elder says with anger rising in his tone.

“I didn’t turn him,” Lance growls.

Keith’s hand is suddenly against Lance’s arm, and Lance retracts, hissing at the were. Keith stares at him for a moment before he turns back to the others.

“He’s telling the truth.” Keith mumbles. Lance’s shoulders drop slightly, the snarl on his face falling away as he stares at Keith in shock.

“How do you know?” The Elder were asks.

“Like he said, I was there. If he’d given him any venom before he started messing with the second guy, he would have already been in the midst of turning by the time I showed up. He was bleeding out, but there’s a chance he could have been turned still after we left. He wasn’t drained completely. Someone else could have done it in hopes of framing Lance.” Keith offers. Lance’s mouth falls open, but nothing comes out. He’s not even sure what he wanted to say.

“How do we know you’re not lying too?” One of the other vampires at the table asks. 

Keith narrows his eyes at her. “Why would I risk my neck for a vamp?”

Lance stares at him from the corner of his eye before he looks back to the vampire that Keith was staring down. She’s been around for as long as Lance can remember, but he never made an effort to remember her name. She never seemed important enough.

“I want to check out the scene, see what we can find.” Keith states.

“We?” The vampire Elder asks.

“Since this is Lance’s problem, it’d make sense he come along.” Keith states before he stands up.

“They should be accompanied by someone else.” The same vamp states as she stands up and it’d be useful if Lance could remember her name right now.

“Fine, but not by you,” Keith replies. She looks taken back and… concerned. Keith nods his head and one of the other were’s stands up and moves around from his spot at the table.

“One of us should be with you too.” She protests again. Keith holds his hand out like he’s trying to show he’s being rational, but Lance knows everyone can smell the annoyance radiating off of him.

“Another vampire framed Lance, we don’t need your scent getting all over the scene.” He states. “Otherwise we might come to the conclusion that it was you.”

Lance sees how her shoulders tense up more and that concern seems to morph into fear. “That’s quite the assumption,” she states, but her voice wavers slightly.

“It  _ was _ you. Which makes sense that you’d want me out of the way, so you could have a chance of control when I’m meant to become the successor.” Lance snaps. She hisses, her hands balling into fists at her sides.

“You have no proof!” she shouts. Keith rolls his eyes.

“You’re very defensive for someone who’s innocent. Besides, we’re about to go find that proof. But you can save us the walk by just confessing since you’ve basically already done it.” 

Keith stalks closer to her. Lance stares her down, feeling more anger boil in his body. She looks around at the others, the anger in her eyes slowly fading back to fear.

“So how long were you going to tail me before you were given a chance to fuck me over?” Lance asks, leaning back in his chair as a sly smirk falls to his lips. 

She stares at him, her lip quivering into a snarl. The Elder suddenly stands up, staring her down. She shrinks back on herself and the fight in her dies. Keith scoffs and shakes his head as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“This meeting is over,” The Elder states, his voice heavy with a growl.

Lance glares at her as the Elder stands in front of her and starts telling her what’s going to happen to her now for her crimes not only in turning a human without permission, but also endangering their race and also for treason against the clan. Lance’s attention is drawn away when everyone else starts to get up to leave. The Elders will deal with her punishment. 

Lance turns in his chair and finds that Keith’s already leaving the room. He jumps to his feet and races after Keith, his speed making it easy as he stops in Keith’s path. The were looks up at him like he’s displeased and crosses his arms over his chest again.

“What do you want Lance?” Lance looks to the side and watches as the other vamps and weres walk past. He grabs hold of Keith’s arm and drags him over to the back of the church. Keith shrugs out of Lance’s hold but does follow him. “What’re you playing at?”

“Why’d you help me?” Lance says once they’re out of earshot. Keith raises an eyebrow even as he frowns.

“Uh, because you were innocent?” He says it like it’s obvious. Lance makes a vague hand gesture as a weird noise escapes his throat.

“But you hate me.” Lance mumbles, confused. 

Keith rolls his eyes and leans back against the wall.

“I don’t hate you.”

“You’re a werewolf, you hate me.” Lance crosses his own arms over his chest. Keith smirks and shakes his head.

“No, I don’t. I’ve never hated you, Lance. You’re a pain in the ass, but I’m used to your bullshit by now. We’re meant to be the successors and I know you’ve got whatever deal with your sister, but it’s gonna end up being you in that position, not her.” Keith shrugs. “I’ve always known we’d have to work together eventually to make sure that vampires and werewolves can continue to coexist without chaos happening. Pretty hard to do that, if you’re gonna be hellbent on hating the other, isn’t it?”

Lance stares at him for a long time before he drops his gaze with a sigh. “We’re meant to hate each other.”

“Are we? Lance, you’re nearly a century old, your bloodline alone is thousands of years old. We’re not our ancestors. We don’t have to hate each other just because they did. And you’re too old to be acting so childishly.” Keith shrugs.

“…we’re told as kids that we can’t trust your kind,” Lance admits. Keith snorts.

“That checks out. Notice how vamps are always the ones provoking fights? Our parents teach us that no matter what, vampires are basically our brothers. We’re in this together, and in order to ensure both species survive, we have to look out for each other. Why do you think we have a council with all these laws?” Keith raises an eyebrow expectantly. Lance chews his bottom lip and averts his gaze.

“You know, you don’t exactly make it easy to like you,” Lance mutters as a response, which lets Keith know he clearly doesn’t have an argument for that statement.

“Because you’re the embodiment of friendly.” Keith deadpans. 

Lance bites back a smirk and looks up to Keith, tilting his head a little.

“I’m a charming asshole.” Lance states and Keith rolls his eyes and steps up to Lance, nudging his shoulder.

“Yeah, and don’t you know it, you oversized mosquito.” 

Keith snickers when Lance shoves him lightly.

“Don’t call me that, you dog.” Lance throws back. Keith shakes his head and clicks his tongue.

“That’s so old Lance, come up with a new insult okay?” Keith pats his shoulder as he steps past Lance. “I’m sure I’ll see you around sometime soon.”

“Wait.” 

Lance is quick to reach out and grab hold of Keith’s wrist, stopping him from going anywhere. Keith turns back to him and gives him an expectant look. Lance drops his gaze as he lets go of Keith’s wrist and starts fiddling with his fingers.

“Uh… again, thank you, for sticking up for me in there,” Lance mumbles, his eyes still focused on the ground. 

Keith offers the vamp and soft smile, even though he doesn’t see it. “Despite your own ego, I know you’d do the same for me.”  

Lance lifts his gaze and returns that calming smile. He knows Keith is right.

\- - -

It’s nearly a week later before Lance actively seeks Keith out. Since he couldn’t really trek into the werewolf’s territory, it made catching up a little hard. Also, didn’t help that Keith was fond of keeping around his father since he was still learning all about what it was going to take to be the successor. And he clearly took his job more seriously than Lance. But eventually, he’s able to catch up to the were on neutral territory. Despite the fact that they’ve known each other for nearly as long as they’ve been alive, Lance is still a little weary around Keith when he’s full wolf.

Lance approaches him slowly, knowing that weres have a tendency to not be as reasonable when they shifted. More animalistic and easier to piss off. Keith’s with another were that Lance hasn’t seen before, not that he remembers anyway. His fur is as black as Keith’s, but his body is littered with scars that make Lance feel uncomfortable. Even he’d never willingly attack a werewolf to that extent, it was basically suicide, so whoever it was that took on this were had  _ balls _ . The other were notices him first and starts to snarl at him even though Lance holds his hands up to show he means no harm. Keith lifts his head slightly, his nose wiggling as he sniffs the air before he turns to face Lance.

“I thought you guys could catch our scent miles away.” 

Lance steps closer with a smirk on his face. The other were makes a noise that sounds a lot like a snort while Keith tilts his head like he’s shrugging. He can’t think why in all their years of evolution weres have never learned how to talk in their wolf form. It makes communication really hard. 

“I uh… I kinda need to talk to you.” Lance says, meeting Keith’s gaze.

The second were looks back and forth between the two and Lance swears he sees an amused smile gathered in his eyes. Only wolves can’t smirk -because nobody can convince Lance that that isn’t a smirk- so that’s stupid, but maybe there’s a hint of it since he’s actually human in there. Keith looks back to the wolf, his ears flattening slightly against his head, but he doesn’t look angry. The other were steps up to him, and Lance isn’t fully sure if weres can communicate in some telepathic way when they’re wolves, but he can hear the small noises being exhaled between them. 

Keith leans into the other were, their foreheads meeting for a brief moment before the other were is turning away, his gaze lingering on Lance before Keith nudges him and he heads off. Lance watches him run through the treeline until the black of his fur bleeds into the night. When he looks back to Keith, he’s actually sat like a dog, staring up at him expectantly.

“I’d like to talk to you face to face, y’know, not your wolf,” Lance says as he leans back against a tree. 

Keith makes a noise and awkwardly lifts his paw to gesture to the carcass beside him like Lance had no idea it was there. The smell of blood is basically engulfing them; he’d have to be stupid not to have noticed it. 

“I’m sorry to have disturbed your dinner date,” Lance continues, “but this is kinda important. And I know scars-a-lot will be in howling range once I’m gone.”

Keith huffs, damn  _ huffs  _ at him before he looks back to what’s left of the mutilated deer. His ears flatten again before he closes his eyes and Lance watches as he starts to shift back. There’s the low popping sounds as bone and cartilage return back to their normal place in Keith’s body, his shoulders hunching and dropping forward as the bones reposition themselves so that he arms, instead of legs. His ribs crack and shift, compressing to form a human rib cage instead of the more bloated look of a wolfs.

His paws and  _ face _ make the worst cracking noises, small toes elongate into fingers as claws reduce into nails, his muzzles sounds like it snaps as it shrinks down. His jaw cracks and his nose screws up as it presses back into his face. Keith’s faint whimpers morph into low groaning noises the more human he becomes.

The fur on his body shrinks back down into his skin, thinning out into the small hairs along his body. Muscle mass forms back into Keith’s body as he fills out from the slimmer form of his wolf. Keith’s body twitches and jolts slightly and Lance grimaces. He’s seen were’s shift before, but he’s never really watched them as intently as he is right now.

“God that looks so painful,” he mutters, more to himself than Keith. 

The moment Keith returns to his human form, he smirks at Lance, though he is panting a little.

“It is the first few times, but you get used to it.” 

He stands up now that he’s able to. Lance averts his eyes, feeling heat crawling up his neck because Keith’s just standing there,  _ naked _ .

“Do you, uh… mind?” Lance mumbles, making a vague hand gesture. Keith snorts and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Sorry clothes don’t materialise out of thin air and I don’t bring spares with me everywhere. You’re the one who wanted to talk this very second. So, get on with it, it’s fucking cold out here.” Keith doesn’t even try to cover himself up and Lance really wishes he would. Lance hadn’t even thought about that fact that were’s are affected by the weather like humans are. Unlike vamps, who never feel the cold since they’re by all biologic standards not living, weres would feel cold. He shrugs out of his hoodie jacket and holds it out.

“Here.” He still keeps his head turned away. “So what was with Scars? I don’t recognise him.” 

Keith hesitates for a moment before steps up to him and takes the jacket. Lance knows it’s not warm, since he doesn’t have any body heat, but he hopes that it’ll at least be of some use to Keith.

“Thanks. An old friend. He’s not part of my pack, kinda prefers to be on his own. His pack, his  _ family _ … they did that to him. Nearly killed him,” Keith says. 

Lance’s gut churns at the thought.

“That’s fucked, up.” he breathes out.

“A little, I’ve spoken to the pack. They’d be okay with him joining, but he’d rather stay on his own.” Keith shrugs and Lance nods. 

When he lifts his head, he expects Keith to be covering himself up now, but he’s just put the jacket on as is, hasn’t even zipped it up, though he has his arms crossed over his chest, pulling it closed and is still standing there showing off  _ everything _ . He has the collar pulled up around his face, almost like he’s nuzzling into it. Lance swallows thickly and tries really hard to stop his eyes from wandering.

“This isn’t gonna make what I have to say very easy,” he says, trying to laugh it off. 

Keith sighs and runs his fingers through the back of his hair. “Lance, just get on with it.”

“Okay look… I’ve been thinking about what you said. A lot. And you’re right. Fuck, you’re always right.”

“I know,” Keith says in a smug tone and smirk. 

Lance glares at him. “Whatever fleabag. Anyway… I don’t hate you for you. Fuck, I don’t even hate you for being a were. I… I’ve always kind of envied you, I guess.” 

He sighs and his shoulders sag into himself. He holds his biceps in his hands, turning his head away fully again. Keith raises an eyebrow at him.

“You envy me? Why?” He tilts his head a little. “We’re not that different, you know?”

“Except you’re still living, and I mean that y’know, your heart still beats, you still have blood pumping in your veins, you’re able to go out into the sun. You could live a normal life. And since you’re so amazing at controlling your urges, you barely have to shift. You can eat normal fucking food, and I know you need extra meat in your diet, but  _ fuck _ . You’re still living.

“All I fucking do is sit around all day drinking blood, I sleep because I’m fucking  _ bored _ , not because I have to. I don’t have a  _ life _ . It can be fun, y’know? The immortal thing, being able to go anywhere and everywhere I want at the drop of a hat, being able to do stupid shit that would kill a normal person, but what the fuck is the point of it all when I have no purpose?” 

Lance sighs, tilting his head back and smacking it against the tree behind him.

“I was being an asshole to you because it filled my time, but, now that I’ve admitted to myself that I don’t fucking  _ hate you _ , I have nothing to do.” 

Lance closes his eyes and lets out a steady breath. It’s silent for a moment before he hears Keith chuckle. Lance drops his head forward and frowns. 

“Something funny, wolfie?”

“Yes, you. Lance, just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you can’t live. Werewolves don’t have purpose either, yet you don’t hear me bitching about it. Yes, we can go out in the sun. Yes, we don’t need to feed exclusively on one thing, but that doesn’t mean we’re worth anything. We can be out in the day but for what? To meander around doing nothing, maybe we could get jobs, but what’s the point? And if we stray too much from our diet it makes us sick, and yeah, we can’t even eat chocolate, it fucking sucks by the way.

“We’re not that different, Lance. We’re both immortal, we’ve both been doing the same shit for our whole lives. We don’t have purpose but we’re here for a reason. We don’t have to hate each other to provide ourselves entertainment. Y’know, being immortal is a lot more fun if you do it with someone else.” Keith nods his head over to the carcass on the ground. “Shiro keeps me sane, we’ve done some stupid shit together but he’s a friend, someone I can trust, someone who gets it and is going through the same shit. We have each other.”

“I really hope you mean the other were and not the deer,” Lance mutters. Keith punches him in the arm, an annoyed growl rumbling in his chest. “Ow, hey.”

“God, you’re a shithead.” Keith sighs, running his hand through his hair again. “Lance, it’s not fun, but we’re what we are for a reason. We have responsibilities we have to take on. Besides, despite how much you say humans are beneath you when you feed, you take out criminals. And I know I stand in your way a lot, but that’s not because it’s my opinion. You have a purpose. Killing people like that, you’re saving innocent lives, despite the fact that it’s not your choice to decide what happens to them. And like you said, there are worse vamps and I guess… at least you’re not eating innocent people.”

“So… you don’t care that I feed off of criminals?” Lance clarifies.

“When I think about how many people they’ve raped, murdered, how much they’ve stolen, the lives they’ve ruined… what you do isn’t so bad. The cops won’t kill them, humans are too scared to kill those who deserve it. They’re probably thankful every time a crook winds up dead on the street. It’s their problem, not ours, but at the end of the day, you have to feed.”

“A thanks every now and then would be nice.” Lance hums. Keith licks his lips, wetting them slightly before he steps up to Lance again. He rests his hand on Lance’s shoulder and offers him a small smile.

“Vampire or werewolf, this life kinda fucking sucks. But I’ll be honest, your annoying ass has made it a little more fun.” Keith offers. Lance chuckles and lifts his gaze to meet Keith’s eye.

“I’ve already said you made it better,” Lance says. “But now I dunno what to do with myself since I can’t keep acting like I hate you. Because you’re right, we’re the future and we’re gonna have to work together and… that’s not really a daunting thought. It’s actually kinda relieving because you know what you’re doing and you have  _ plans _ .” 

“We’re allowed to be friends, Lance. And yeah, I’ve been thinking about what changes I’m gonna make since I was a kid.” 

“Dude, that’s fucking  _ sad _ .” 

Lance laughs and Keith chuckles, shrugging his shoulder lightly.

“Like you said, we don’t have anything to do. It gave me something to think about when I was bored.”

“Stop talking, this is getting even more pathetic and sad the longer you go on.” 

Lance shoves Keith playfully, even as the were shakes his head. Keith drops his hand off Lance’s shoulder and shrugs again.

Silence falls between them for a moment. Keith knows that Lance has more to say, and so he waits it out. Lance drops his head forward slightly, the smirk falling away from his face as he kicks at the ground.

“So, like I said… this is gonna be really awkward to say because you’re naked… but I guess like now that we’ve had this weird heart-to-heart, it has to happen.” Lance finally says, chuckling softly again. 

Keith chews his bottom lip and tugs on the front of Lance’s jacket, pulling it closed tighter. It’s long, but it’s not that long.

“Unless you plan on handing your pants over, there’s nothing I can really do about that. Because seriously, I’m not enjoying this any more than you are, I’m fucking  _ freezing _ .” Keith says around his own chuckle.

“Sorry,” Lance mutters. Keith shrugs.

“It’s not that bad, I’ve had worse,” Keith mentions. Lance lifts his gaze again, raising a sceptical eyebrow.

“Do I wanna know?”

“Probably not.”

Lance nods and his eyes drop to Keith’s lips. Around his mouth, there’s a bit of smeared blood from him eating. Some of it even on the tip of his nose and it’s been driving Lance crazy the whole time. He stares, and he knows he’s staring and he tries to avert his gaze because it’s awkward, but he can’t help it. Keith suddenly lifts his hand and wipes his thumb over his nose and top lip, pulling it away to see a smear of blood that hasn’t quite dried yet.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbles before he sucks his thumb into his mouth. “Neither of us are that civil when it comes to eating.”

Against his better judgement, Lance turns to face Keith fully and reaches up to wipe a trail of blood that’s run down the side of Keith’s chin away. Keith watches him cautiously as Lance’s fingers clean up the mess. Lance grimaces somewhat and he wants to pull his hand away, but instead, he keeps hold of Keith’s chin.

“Seriously the fact that you’re naked is making this really fucking hard.”

Keith rolls his eyes and pulls his head back, swatting Lance’s hand away from his face. “Stop thinking about it then.”

“I can’t.” Lance mumbles. 

Keith’s frown deepens, his mouth falling open to argue the point when Lance steps even closer to him. His mouth instantly clamps shut and his eyes drop to Lance’s own lips, the points of his fangs visible in the small gap of Lance’s lips. 

Lance leans in more, his nose nearly pressing into the side of Keith’s cheek as he whispers, “I don’t think I really want to either.”

Lance senses the way Keith shivers from the little breathy exhale he makes. Any wolf would be nervous to have a vamp this close to their throat, but Lance has to wonder if its nerves or something else that has Keith reacting in that way. Keith turns his head a little and Lance does the same. Their noses nearly brush as they stare at each other. Lance makes a small noise, something akin to a laugh that he wasn’t able to contain.

“You know… the other night at the church… you left before I could get up the guts to do this.” 

Lance swallows thickly. Keith doesn’t respond to that as he continues to stay perfectly still. Lance can’t smell fear on him, so that’s not what keeps him silent and frozen in place. Lance tilts his head, leaning in and Keith follows the movement.

Their lips meet firmly, and almost instantly, Lance is flicking his tongue over Keith’s bottom lip. Keith reaches up, grabbing hold of Lance’s shoulders as he parts his lips and lets the vamp lick into his mouth. Lance’s hands are instantly on his hips, his nails digging lightly into Keith’s skin.

It barely lasts a few dragged out seconds before Lance is pulling back, ducking his head slightly. Keith runs his tongue over his lips, his heightened senses making it easy to taste the remaining flavour of Lance on them. Lance lets out a shaky breath as he lifts his head again. Keith offers him a lopsided smile that he manages to return, despite the heat rising to his cheeks.

“If I’d known, I might have waited around all night,” Keith says, his own voice low and calming. 

Lance chuckles softly and ducks his head again, still trying extremely hard to ignore the fact that Keith’s almost pressed against him  _ completely naked _ .

“Liking you is… a lot easier than trying to hate you.” Lance offers with another chuckle. 

Keith lifts his hand to nudge Lance’s chin up so that he can meet his eyes.

“I’m glad because liking you hasn’t been easy when you’ve been trying to hate me,” Keith says and Lance swallows thickly, running his tongue over the tip of his teeth.

“This… is probably a really bad idea,” Lance states, even though his mouth continues to try and twitch up into a smirk. 

Keith clicks his tongue as he leans in again. “Probably.” He tilts his head and pecks the corner of Lance’s mouth. “But where’s the fun in good ideas?”

Lance grins, pushing himself into Keith more as he kisses him again. It’s rough and a little messy, their pent-up feelings finally getting a chance to escape. Lance pulls back just enough to kiss and lick at the corners of Keith’s mouth, cleaning up what blood was left on his face.

“Maybe it’s just the blood, but you taste pretty good.” Lance hums, licking his lips as he looks up at Keith again.

“Well, I know for a fact that you taste better than the blood, so there’s that at least.” 

Lance feels heat suffusing his face again and turns his head to the side to avoid Keith’s hazy stare.

“Shut up.” Lance huffs. Keith nuzzles into Lance’s neck, humming softly.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to kiss you.” 

Keith sighs softly, following up the statement by pressing his lips firmly to the tendon in Lance’s throat.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting. Though being told to sit and stay probably comes naturally to you,” Lance says, smirking to himself when he hears Keith growl. Keith nips at his neck, his teeth sinking into the skin hard enough to sting and Lance knows he’d bruise almost instantly if he could. “Ow, fuck you.”

“You’re the worst,” Keith mumbles as he pulls away, crossing his arms over his chest again. “Though, I figured you’d eventually admit you liked me, even if it took you ten centuries.” Keith shrugs. Lance stares at him for a moment.

“Were you really willing to wait that long?”

Lance cringes at the idea. Keith snorts.

“God no. You’re not worth that much.” Keith grins, showing off his teeth. Lance’s shoulders drop and he gives Keith a flat glare.

“So, this isn’t really worth it then?” He raises an eyebrow in something like a challenge. Keith clicks his tongue again and leans into Lance again.

“I could probably live without it, but I’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t at least try. Question is, could you?” 

That stupid grin won’t leave his face and it makes Lance’s chest feel fuzzy.

“I don’t wanna find out.” Lance offers. Keith bites back from smiling any wider and moves out of Lance’s space again.

“So… what happens now?” he asks.

“Things don’t have to change right away. We’ve got eternity after all.” Lance shrugs. Keith nods.

“That’s true.” He lifts his hand to run through the back of his hair again. Lance watches the motion. He does it often enough that it’s sort of his little tick.

“Why do you do that?” Lance dares to ask. Keith drops his gaze.

“I do it when I’m nervous,” Keith admits and Lance’s smile widens.

“Why’re you nervous?” He pushes, crossing his own arms across his chest. Keith swallows and turns his head away and, despite himself, does it again.

“Because I really like you, and I want this to work out and it’s scary to think that… this could… that our parents might not be okay with this.” Keith sighs. Lance goes to respond, only for Keith to hold up his hands. “Yeah I know, we can take this slow and we don’t have to tell anyone at all right now or at all because it’s our business just… I overthink.”

“You really do. Relax, we’re still us, just y’know, you can kiss me when you feel like it instead of denying yourself that.” 

Lance shrugs, biting his bottom lip. Keith watches the tips of his teeth press into the skin but somehow manage not to pierce it. He nods.

“Baby steps.”

“Exactly.” The silence that falls between them is a little tenser now. Lance kicks at the ground again before he points over to the carcass. “I, uh, better let you get back to that before it’s completely gross.”

“Yeah, thanks, Shiro’s probably getting antsy.” Keith chuckles. Lance hums.

“Yeah, I can smell him lingering around.”

“It’s not that he doesn’t trust you, he knows who you are. He’s just… protective.” Keith offers, chewing his own bottom lip.

“Should I be concerned?” Lance chuckles and Keith can hear the nervous tone to his voice.

“Only if you plan on doing something horrible to me.”

“So, should I be more worried about your dad or Shiro?”

“You’ll be fine Lance,” Keith assures. 

Lance nods, swaying slightly on his spot as he tries to convince himself that it’s time to go. He makes another vague hand gesture, pointing over his shoulder.

“Anyway… I should, yeah, get going.”  

Keith chuckles softly but nods his agreement. Lance steps up to him again, resting his hands lightly on his hips, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before he’s pulling away and turning to leave. 

“I’ll see you… whenever, around… y’know.”

“Lance,” Keith calls out because he’s already walking off. He turns back to Keith as the were shrugs out of his jacket and holds it out for him. “Want this back?”

“Uh, yeah, sorry. Thanks.”

“No, thank you, for keeping me warm. Smelt nice too.” Keith offers. Lance swallows thickly and nods as he takes the jacket from Keith, fumbling with it between his hands. He tries not to let his eyes wander down Keith’s body, he really does.

“Y’know, admitting that I liked you while your dick was hanging out might have been the bravest and also scariest thing I’ve ever done,” Lance notes. 

Keith laughs, a full, genuine sound that he cuts off by covering his mouth with his hand. Lance feels his gut flutter at the sound of it.

“How romantic of you,” Keith says, still chuckling.

“Next time, pants need to be happening, okay?”

“Are you sure about that?” Keith asks, that smirk returning to his lips. 

Lance swallows thickly, feeling his interest in the offer hidden in those words. He turns away, telling himself to walk away now or _so_ _help him_.

“No, but we’ll see.”

“I’ve got a place, neutral territory. I’ll let you know if that’s okay?” Keith says. 

Lance looks over his shoulder and nods once.

“Definitely,” he says. 

He catches Keith’s smile before he really starts to leave, moving quickly through the trees before he convinces himself to stay.

He doesn’t get very far before there’s a low howl echoing after him through the trees. He turns a final time to see Keith, in his wolf form, standing over the carcass as he stares out into the trees. Another howl responds from a distance and Lance takes that as his cue to get out of there.

The warm feeling in his chest doesn’t fade for  _ days _ .

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my Tumblr](http://bloodthirstymerc.tumblr.com/about_merc) for more of me and earlier updates! It'd mean the world to me and would really help me out.


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